Chapter 19
1 John 5:18-21
1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Since verse 13 of chapter five, John has been essentially summarizing his epistle. He reminded us in verse 13, that we can know that we have eternal life, in verse 14 he told us again that we can have confidence that our prayers are heard and that we can expect an answer for those prayers (verse 15). Then in verses 16 and 17, John reminded us of the need to pray for others by giving us some guidance on when and when not to pray. John now concludes his letter by giving us three, “we know” statements.
John reiterates that we are children of God (see 1 John 3:9) and that as children of God we are not to continue living in a chronic pattern of sin (read Romans 6:15-23). John says that God will protect us (some translations use the word ‘keeps’ us, the Greek implies that we are ‘reserved’). In the gospel of John, we read when Jesus prayed in the garden (some call this “the real Lord’s prayer” as it is something that Jesus Himself prayed, it is recorded in the 17th chapter of the gospel according to John) in that prayer He noted that none of His followers had been taken by the “son of destruction” (referring to Satan, see John 17:12). Here in his epistle, John once again reassures us, his readers, that God will protect us from the evil one (the devil, see Job chapters 1 and 2; Acts 26:18; 2 Timothy 2:26 and Hebrews 2:14-15). Does that mean we are no longer under Satan’s control? Yes, unless we give it to him, the apostle Paul warned us, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26-27, NIV) We are free from the devil but if we fall away from God or focus on ourselves, we can easily give the devil a place to grab hold of us (read James 4:7-8 and Hebrews 2:14-15, note how the devil uses fear to control people). The Lexham English Bible (LEB) renders this verse in 1 John this way: “We know that everyone who is fathered by God does not sin, but the one fathered by God, he protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
1 John 5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The second, “we know” statement helps us remember that there are two worlds, namely God’s and the evil one’s (the world where we currently live). This often astonishes believers but we need to understand that this world is indeed under Satan’s influence (read Luke 4:5-7, note that Jesus never argued with Satan about his claims of ruler ship when Satan attempted to tempt Jesus; read also Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:1-3; 6:12; Colossians 1:13-14 and James 4:4).
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
The next, “we know” is perhaps the most important of the three, at least for us. He says we know that the Son of God has come (to offer us the only true plan of salvation). He also gave us understanding (the Word of God, the Bible), so that we may be able to know Him (see John 17:3), who is true. Note that the Greek word ‘know’ used in each phrase, “we know” is ‘oida’ referring to our ability to know something instinctively, the word used here to “know Him” is once again the word, ‘ginōskō’ implying knowledge from experience. John repeatedly calls us to know Jesus (read 1 John 2:3, 13-14; 3:1,6; 5:2), we are to know Him intimately, not just know of Him! (see also James 2:19) John returns to the theme of us being part of Him and He being a part of us. We are truly to abide in Him, after all, we are designed to be inseparable and we truly are inseparable (see 1 John 2:6, 28; 3:24; 4:12-16; 5:11-13).
When I read these three, “we know” statements, I often think about how an attorney makes a closing argument, reviewing the evidence and summarizing the case. John has seen how this incredible love story (that we call the gospel message) about the Son of God and how He lived a sin-less life, suffered, died on a cross, and became alive again for our salvation, a simple story that had been intentionally corrupted by false teachers to deceive people. Here John presents his “closing argument” for all believers to hear, let’s review each again with that idea in mind.
Evidence 1 – We know that believers do not participate in habitual sinning since we know that Jesus is always with us protecting us from the evil one. The New Living Translation (NLT) renders verse 18 like this: “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”
Evidence 2 – We know that there are two worlds in conflict with each other, God’s world and Satan’s world. One leads to eternal life with Jesus and the other leads to destruction and eternal damnation.
Evidence 3 – We know that Jesus came with the sole intent to make eternal life with Him possible. He also gave us His Word (literally and figuratively) that He came and that His Word is true. God could have sent His Son for our salvation and never tell anyone, but why bother? Praise God He did both! We have the Word of God (the Bible) that tells us about what He did and why He did it, plus we have His Word (His promise to you and me) that it is true and we can have faith and trust His promise of redemption. We can, through knowing Him, join Him for eternity by accepting His free gift of salvation.
1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, the only verdict we can render is to accept His free gift and stay put, don’t leave and go anywhere else. Don’t follow a lie, seek only the true God, keep yourselves from idols! We are not to follow false signs, images, and other deceptions of Satan or of the world. We are to be “idol free” (read 1 Corinthians 10).
While we might laugh at John’s warning to stay away from idols, thinking this sort of thing is a “thing of the past,” a carryover from a less-enlightened time, we need to understand that John chose these words to conclude and summarize this epistle because humanity will never change. An idol can be almost anything, if something takes our eyes off Jesus, its an idol! In this epistle John wants us to remember (perhaps more than anything else in this letter) that Christianity is about our relationship with Jesus. Non-believers have a difficult time in understanding true Christianity since all they can understand is religion (namely rituals, procedures, and protocols). Christianity is different, God wants us, not religion, as idols are just for religion. Rituals, protocols and traditions are all a form of idol as they only serve man’s purposes and cannot serve God. Is there something in your life that is keeping you from having a personal relationship with Jesus? If so, pray now and begin seeking Him and Him alone!
Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down every idol-throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.
See, to Thee I yield my heart,
Shed Thy life through every part;
A pure temple I would be,
Wholly dedicate to Thee.
Stanzas 5 and 6
Holy Ghost, with Light Divine
Written by Andrew Reed, 1817